Tata Motors makes History in the UK by launching the Jaguar XE saloon.

Tata Motors today has made history in UK with the launch of Jaguar XE Saloon, which is an entry-level luxury saloon car, at its West Midlands manufacturing unit. Jaguar’s production unit at Solihull which has mostly manufactured cars for Land Rover but the today the very first Jaguar XE rolled off this new facility. This new “factory within a factory” is a 500-million pound investment, which consists of a brand new body shop , trim and final facilities. This 500-million pound investment in the Solihull unit by the Tata Group represents the largest single company investment in the plant in its 70-year history.

With this launch, Jaguar Land Rover aims to double Jaguar’s present annual UK sales of 18,000, in its first full year. “The XE will bring the average age of the Jaguar driver down significantly. We are accessing young professionals who have historically defaulted to the German brands because they have had nowhere else to go,” jermy Hicks, UK Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover, said at the launch.

The Jaguar XE will not be the only Jaguar which will be manufactured at the new Solihull facility. The Company plans to build the F-Pace along with the XE from next year. Tata Motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover way back in 2008 and has since then seen a massive turnaround in its sales. The Solihull plant, in 2010 which started operations initially by building aircraft engines for the Royal Air Force during World War II, was in danger of closure. Since then, a mammoth 1-billion pound investment by Tata Motors in the manufacturing plant has led it to an incredible boost in production to 240,000 vehicles.

The XE and F-Pace is now expected to take the company’s annual production up by a further 50 per cent to 360,000, with manpower set to peak at 10,500. The success of Jaguar Land Rover in UK was all made possible thanks to sustained investment into the company by the Tata Group.